Balmoral Show: A great day out for everyone

I have been attending Balmoral Show since I was a young person (which doesn’t seem all that long ago!) Many who read this column will also have similar life-long experiences. Over the years, my reason for going has changed. I began attending for fun. Then, I exhibited pedigree sheep. Next, I helped with the Dromore Presbytery stand, which is in its twelfth year - and, this year will be the fifth occasion I will attend the Show as Rural Chaplain. How time flies.

Whatever takes you to Balmoral Show, you soon discover it is a great day out for everyone. Farming neighbours will bump into each other and the banter will be good and probably loud! Friends from different parts of the country will arrange to meet up – the UFU stand is one of the more popular rendezvous points. Children and young people will enjoy a day off school, either on an official school trip or with family or friends. Agri-businesses and services will promote their machinery and their products, while farm support organisations will see many people, all in one place. If you plan to attend Balmoral Show, we would love to see you on the Dromore Presbytery stand: EK 45, in the Eikon Shopping Village, where you will find light refreshments, and seats to rest weary legs, accompanied by a warm welcome.

Even though I love Balmoral Show, I understand that some people do not see the attraction. But that is not the case with God’s Son, Jesus. He really is for everyone. Farmers, tradesmen, business owners, and professionals from the four corners of the world, men and women, the young, the old, and everyone in between - have all found that Jesus is just who they have been longing for. You will know all kinds of people, from all kinds of places, who love and follow Jesus. The Bible’s New Testament is overflowing with stories of the different assortment of people who came to love Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Take, for example, a bunch of rough Bethlehem shepherds (in that time and place, shepherds were seen as untrustworthy and society’s lowest). Yet, when Jesus is born into the world, God deliberately chose lowly shepherds to be among the first to see his Son. And meeting Jesus changed their lives, so that they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen...” (Luke 2:20).

Then there’s Lydia, the religious businesswoman. Different to the shepherds in so many ways, she was at a prayer meeting, yet didn’t follow Jesus. But, as the apostle Paul spoke, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And … she was baptised” (Acts 16:14-15). Whether you farm, or not, whether you are a man or a woman, wherever you live and whatever your background, I hope you can see, from the Bible and illustrated in the lives of people all around you, that Jesus has come for everyone - Jesus has come for you.

Balmoral Show is a great day out for all. But whether you attend, or not, I warmly encourage you to seriously consider trusting your life to Jesus, who really did come for everyone, without distinction. This Jesus died on the cross. Why? So that God can forgive you for your sin, which at its heart, is all about loving yourself, not God. From this moment on, by God’s enabling, I pray that you will trust in Jesus, who died for your forgiveness. And that you will turn from going your way, to going God’s way. Please see that Jesus really is for everyone, including you!

Rev Kenny Hanna is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s first Rural Chaplain. Growing up on the family farm in the Kingdom of Mourne, he began serving in parish ministry in 2001 in Glenwherry. Prior to his appointment as Rural Chaplain, he was minister of Second Dromara Presbyterian Church for 10 years. He continues to farm part-time. If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Kenny at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.